Leah Findlay

Connie Christensen

Edu 202

23, April 2017

Assignment One:
i. My first impression of the classroom environment was warm and welcome, students were
friendly towards each other and their teacher.
ii. The physical environment of the classroom was clean, yet informational. You could see
everything students have been working on this year, all over the walls. There were
additional posters that were inspiring quotes, or posters related to reading.
iii. The student make-up of the class had various ethnicities and cultures in both accelerated
and regular classes.
iv. There were no posted rules in the classroom, but students were aware of what was
expected of them.
v. The teacher does enforce the rules, and the consequences were extra time on silent
readings and phone calls home.

Assignment Two:
i. The posted daily schedule is to continue reading “Someone Named Eva” and go over a
powerpoint on Hitler.
ii. The instruction is delivered in whole groups, the teacher explains to the entire class and
they listened.
iii. My cooperating teacher’s, teaching style is to get students excited about school and to
learn reading isn’t a bad thing. She shows pride in her personal reading skills and
expresses it to the class.
iv. My observation teacher did incorporate the sensory modalities in her lessons. An example
of this was them reading the book together as a class about the Holocaust (visual) , each
individual student had to talk in the front of the class about their journals (auditory), and
then they continue writing in their journal and decorating it (kinesthetic).
v. The students were engaged in the lessons presented, they all took notes and gave their
own opinions and asked questions.
vi. The teacher handles transitions from instruction to assignment by moving at a steady pace
and never letting the lesson get slow, because then you lose the student’s attention.
vii. The teacher uses “attention getting” by being silent, and waiting for everyone to notice
her and quiet down.
 viii. The teacher had a student that was not participating, refusing to do work and going
around the school calling her names, this is just one example of behavioral issues she has
to deal with.

Assignment Three:
i. The space was used efficiently, the chairs were all spread out evenly and all seats had a
clear view of the front.
ii. Graph Sheet

Assignment Four:
A)
i. The physical characteristics of the school had plenty of life to it. When you enter the
school from the front there are bushes and trees everywhere. There are birdhouses among
all these plants, and colorful flowers. The campus if half outside half inside.
ii. Inside of the hallways the walls are blasted with projects, papers, and student council
posters. There are windows in every classroom that bring in natural lighting. The hallways
are one way hallways with multi colored carpet and white walls.
B)
i. Schofield Middle School has a flying tiger as their mascot and their mission statement is,”
At Schofield Middle School, we will provide a quality educational environment in which
students are encouraged to realize their fullest potential while becoming responsible
citizens.” One week of my observation students were celebrating spirit days and showing
community pride. Every morning during announcements, the school also show’s their
community pride by announcing new clubs and what is going on in current clubs.
ii. The staff was very friendly to all visitors including me. One visitor was coming to pick up
her daughter from a fight, and the staff remained very calm and tried to be as helpful as
they could. Students and staff also got along as well and there was respect between the
two.
iii. Students were socializing outside of the hallways and by the lunchroom. There were also
various students in my cooperating teacher’s class talking with her and one another before
class.
iv. The school is organized by having the dean’s office, front office, library, gym, lunchroom
and theater all on one side of the school, and the classrooms for 6th-8th graders on the
opposite side. Each grade had their own hallway with a number painted outside,
representing the hallway.
C)
 i. The teacher had high expectations for her students. She requires them to read twenty
books during the school year, ad this is successful because it teaches students that reading
widens your vocabulary, and teaches valuable lessons.
ii. All students had to participate and whatever is distracting them, the teacher put an
immediate stop to.
iii. There was mutual respect between the students and the teacher. Those who were not
respectful were penalized. The teacher never had to raise her voice or argue with students.

Assignment Five:
i. The primary reason my observation teacher, became a teacher was to get students to not
see reading as something negative, but to get excited about it.
ii. The main challenge she faces as a teacher is getting students to do their work and to get
them to enjoy school.
iii. The best part of being a teacher is when my cooperating teacher has students thank her for
showing them reading is not all bad. Students start the year heating reading and end the
year thanking her for bringing out their love for reading.
iv. My cooperating teacher randomly determines where students sit but she changes it every
quarter because they get too comfortable.
v. Making a seating chart for members of flexible grouping is not necessary because the
seating charts are done randomly. My cooperating teacher will move students if they
become extra chatty.
vi. Parents are contacted every other day if not daily with my cooperating teacher. The main
reasons for interactions with parents is my cooperating teacher contacting them for
student’s behavioral issues. She also has parents contact her with their questions,
complaints, and concerns.
vii. If my cooperating teacher is not reading new material for her students, she is grading
papers daily. She does her grading on campus and at home, but most of it gets done at
home.
viii. It takes a few hours to prepare lessons, but my cooperating teacher plans for multiple
weeks, whereas most teachers find it easier to do it weekly.
ix. The behavior consequences that seem most effective with this age group is reasoning with
them. Elementary is too young at times to know right from wrong, middle schoolers on
the other hand, know right from wrong.
x. My cooperating teacher has not been evaluated in a while, but the tools that are used by
administration for determining her performance are looking for lesson objectives and if
they are challenging enough, the classroom’s environment, and how much students
engage.
 xi. What surprised my cooperating teacher the most about teaching and the teaching
profession, is how uninterested students are in learning. She states she believes most
students only look forward to school to socialize.

Assignment Six:
I observed one specific girl in accelerated reading. The lesson given was everyone in the
class got assigned a jewish person living in Germany during the Holocaust and they had to make
diary entries about their person, and on the last day the got to find out what happened to their
person (these are all real people and what actually happened to them). The girl I was observed
rushed to take good notes and to make sure she got all the information from the powerpoint. She
was excited about the lesson, showing her partner all the pictures and everything she wrote in her
diary. I discovered she learned the best after taking notes, being involved, asking the teacher
multiple questions, and responding to the teacher’s questions.

Assignment Seven:
The field observation, for me at least was not only insightful but also fun. I haven’t been
to a middle school since I went to one myself, so it was interesting to not be the one in the seat
learning. I learned that no matter how long one has been teaching, you never stop learning. The
observation has prepared me to understand the teaching profession because I feel I got to learn a
little bit of everything. I saw what is expected of students and teachers, what teachers go through
with parents and students, how to turn in lesson plans and take role, how to solve behavioral
issues, and that every person has their own teaching style. My cooperating teacher gave me
plenty of advice and pointers. In my classroom I will always remember that if it feels like no one
appreciates me lessons and no one cares, to not lose hope. Even if I don’t feel like it, I am
making a difference in their education still.